A Brass-Barrelled Flintlock BlunderbussBy Ketland & Co. Of Birmingham, Late 18th Century

With two-stage barrel turned and belled at the muzzle, fitted with a side-mounted ramrod and with spring bayonet beneath, the bayonet released by a catch on the trigger-guard finial, octagonal breech engraved with a flower-head on each flat at the front and with a line of beadwork at the rear, grooved engraved tang, bright flat bevelled lock (some surface patination) signed in script, figured half-stock (some damage at the barrel-bolt entry) with apron around the barrel tang, border engraved brass mounts comprising butt-plate decorated with a foliate rocaille on the heel tang, trigger-guard with a flower-head on the bow, brass fore-end plate, and original iron ramrod, private Birmingham proof marks and Thomas Ketland's barrelsmith's mark 39.4 cm. barrel

Footnotes

Thomas Ketland is recorded in Birmingham between 1766 and 1804. A John and Thomas Ketland are recorded in Philadelphia between 1789 and 1800. In 1795 they supplied the United States government with rifle and musket locks, however orders for muskets of Charleville pattern were stopped by the British government in 1797. Thomas died in 1816

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